Mail-holder for letter-boxes.



No. 654,40l. Patented July 24, I900. H. N. KING.

MAIL HOLDER FUR LETTER BOXES.

(Applic ution filed Mar. 9, 1900.)

(No Model.)

WITNESSES.

we NORRIS PEYERS co. PNGYaLlTA Q. wnsHmQTnm n, c.

1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIC HENRY N. KING, OF ADRIAN, MICHIGAN.

MAIL H OLDER FOR LETTER-BOXES.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent N0. 654,401, dated July- 24, 1900. Application filed March 9, 1900. Serial No. 7,992. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY N. KING, a citizen of the United States, residing at Adrian, county of Lenawee, State of Michigan, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Mail-Holders for Letter-Boxes; and I declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention is designed to provide a letter or mail holding attachment for letter-boxes; and it consists of the devices and appliances, their combination and arrangement, as hereinafter specified and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in whioh Figure 1 is a view in perspective illustrating my invention as applied to a mail-box, the cover of the box being in open position. Fig. 2 is a View in horizontal section through the box, showing the attachment in plan. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section showing parts in end elevation. Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7 illustrate different modifications in perspective of my invention.

My device is intended more particularly for attachment to mail-boxes used in rural delivery, the attachment being more particularly designed to hold the outgoing mail, or the mail to be taken out by the carrier, and whereby the carrier going to the mailbox, whether he has any mail to leave or not, will readily see upon opening the box whether there is any mail held by the attachment to be taken up by him.

I carry out my invention as follows:

Any suitable letter-box is indicated at ct, the box shown in connection herewith being provided with a lid or cover I).

My improved device is designed to be attached to a mail-box of any construction and is not limited to the particular construction of the box shown herewith.

The main features of my invention consist of letter or mail holding jaws or clamping arms, (indicated at 0,) suitably engaged upon a rod d, located within the box and preferably toward the upper end thereof, as shown. The rod cl may be held in engagement within the box in any suitable manner. As indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, the box is provided with suitable ears 6, through which the extremities of the rod d are passed, said ears being riveted or otherwise secured in the box, the same being shown riveted to the box at f, Fig. 2. These ears may be sleeved upon the extremities of the rod before being riveted into place, and when so engaged with the box the attachment is obviously held permanently in engagement therewith. This would be a very simple and desirable way of engaging the attachment to the box in the construction of new boxes, but where the attachment is desired to be engaged with boxes already placed my invention contemplates any other suitable method of attaching the device thereto. As shown in Fig. 3,-the ends of the rod d are bent downward into essentially U shape and are made of a length sufficient to extend downward to the bottom of a box and thence along the bottom and up inside the frontthereof, as shown, by which means the attachment is held firmly within the box.

The clamping jaws or arms may be of any desired construction. They may be formed of two sheet-metal leaves land 2, for example, as shown in Figs. 1, 3, 5, and 6, or they may be constructed otherwise, if desired. Thus in Fig. 4 one of the arms or jaws is made of wire, as indicated by the numeral 3, the other jaw (indicated by the numeral 1) being made of sheet metal, as above stated. These jaws are constructed to have a spring-clamping tension in any suitable manner. Thus, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 6, a coiled spring g may be engaged intermediate the ends of the rod cl, its extremities 5 and 6 exerting their tension upon the two adjacent arms. In this manner said arms may have a spring tension upon any outgoing mail-matter, (indicated at 7,) or, as shown in Fig. 4, a piece of spring-wire (indicated at B) may be engaged with the ends of the jaws and coiled about the rod d. As shown in Fig. 1, the metal arms 1 and 2 have a jointed en gagement upon the rod d, as indicated at 9, the same construction also being "shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Instead of the jaws themselves being thus jointedly engaged upon the rod 01 the end springs 8 may be jointedly engaged upon the rod, provision therefor being shown, for example, in Fig. 6.

In this case when the cover is in open position, said jaws an intermediate spring may be employed, its extremities 5 and 6 engaging the jaws, as before explained. In Fig. 4, where one of the jaws is formed of wire, the same piece of wire may be coiled about the rod d and its extremities connected with the jaw 1, or, as shown in Fig. 7, instead of having a single wire jaw or arm two wire jaws or arms 4 4 may be employed, connected by an additional wire 10. In this instance both the jaws are made of wire, one of the jaws, as 11, being made of a single piece of wire, the jaws 4-4 being the upturned extremities thereof. The clamping-jaws or mail-holding device 0 are also designed to be depressed within the box when the cover is closed, and by the act of closing the cover said jaws or device being relieved from their depressed condition and restored to normal position automatically when the cover is opened. To this end the jaws have an oscillatory movement within the box, as upon the rod d. Any suitable device, as a spring 12, may be employed having a tension upon the jaw c and also against the adjacent surface of the box, the arrangement being such that when the cover is closed the spring may yield and permit the jaws or mailholding device 0 to be depressed or forced downward into the box, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 3, the spring restoring the jaws to normal or uplifted position when the cover is opened. a

What I claim as my invention is 1. The combination with a letter-box provided with a cover, of vertically-oscillatory spring-actuated jaws located within the box and projecting above the upper end of the box arranged to be depressed within the box when the cover is closed, and means to restore said jaws from their depressed position when the cover is open.

2. The combination with a letter-box, of a horizontal spring-actuated rod having an oscillatory engagement therewithin an d springactuated jaws engaged upon said rod to hold a package deposited between said jaws.

3. The combination with a letter-box, of a horizontal spring-actuated rod having an oscillatory engagement therebetween, and spring-actuated clamping-jaws engaged upon said rod to hold a package deposited between said jaws.

4. The combination with a letter-box provided with a cover at its upper end, of mailholding spring-actuated oscillatory jaws lo cated therewithin and projecting above the upper end of the box when the cover is in open position, said jaws arranged to be depressed wi thin the box when the cover is closed, and to be released from depressed position when the cover is open.

5. The combination with a letter-box provided with a cover, of spring-actuated verticall y-oscillatory clamping-jaws located therewithin to hold a package deposited between said jaws, said jaws projecting above the upper end of the box when the cover is in open position and arranged to be depressed within the box when the cover is closed, and to be released from depressed position when the cover is open.

6. The combination with a letter-box provided with a cover, an oscillatory spring-ac tuated rod engaged therewithin, verticallyoscillatory spring-actuated clamping-jaws engaged with said rod to hold a package deposited between said jaws, said jaws projecting above the upper end of the box when the cover is in open position, and arranged to be HENRY N KING.

Witnesses:

E. G. MONAGIN, H. A. MONAGIN.

8o depressed within the box when the cover is 

